Vol.043.Feb.2008

Dr. John Calhoun, D. S., E-mail: jcalhoun@norcal.org

Northern California District Church of the Nazarene

1866 Clayton Rd., Ste. 200, Concord, CA 94520,

Editor: Kay Clark, E-mail: kay@norcal.org, 925-680-0538 (District office)

Web page: http://www.norcal.org

Contents

Page 1 Table of Contents & Message from Dr. John Calhoun, D. S.

Page 2 Pastor Leadership Resource Day with Dr. Reggie McNeal

Page 3-7 News Updates on Churches & Pastors:

Page 7 Nazarene Missions International News (NMI)

Page 8-9 Sunday School Ministries (SSM) & BASS Convention March 6–7, 2008

Page 9-10 Nazarene Youth International News (NYI)

Page 11 Point Loma Nazarene University News/Calendar of Events

Page 12 Norcal District Calendar

Remember…

“Pastors” and “Leaders” Resource Day

Dr. Reggie McNeal, Guest Speaker

Dr. John H. Calhoun, District Superintendent

Change in Location to Lodi - NOT Stockton

This is for everybody, pastors and congregation members.

Dr. Reggie McNeal

Three districts, Central California, Northern California, and Sacramento, all join together to sponsor:

“Pastor and Leadership Resource Day”

Where: Bear Creek Community Church, Lodi, CA

www.bearcreekchurch.com

Guest speaker: Dr. Reggie McNeal

Cost: $25 with lunch provided (make check payable to Sacrament District Church of the Nazarene)

Translation equipment will be available.

Dr. Reggie McNeal has served as* a leadership development coach, local church pastor, and seminary adjunct faculty for Fuller Theological (Pasadena, CA), Southwestern Baptist (Ft. Worth, TX), Golden Gate Baptist (San Francisco, CA), Trinity Divinity School (Deerfield, IL), and Columbia International (Columbia, SC). He has contributed to "Leadership Journal" and "Net Results." His books include Revolution in Leadership (Abingdon Press, 1998), A Work of Heart: Understanding How God Shapes Spiritual Leaders (Jossey-Bass, 2000), The Present Future (Jossey-Bass, 2003), Practicing Greatness (Jossey-Bass, 2006), and Get A Life! (Broadman & Holman, 2007)

Here’s how to get there: 11171 N. Lower Sacramento Rd., Lodi, CA (209) 369-2202

Stockton’s Bear Creek Church is located north of Eight Mile Road on Lower Sacramento Road.

From I-5: Eight Mile Rd. exit, east three miles to Lower Sacramento Rd. and turn left to BCC.

From Highway 99: Eight Mile Rd., exit, west 4 miles to Lower Sacramento Rd. and right to BCC.

Register through Sacramento District at (916) 652-1193 or www.sacnaz.org

P.O. Box 1550, Loomis, CA 95650

The Point Celebrates "Share the Gift" Project

The people of The Point completed their "Share the Gift" project capping it off with a "hands on" work and witness team to Cambodia. The project was instituted through the "Power of Everybody" financial campaign last year in which $30,000 was committed as a thank offering to God for the great gift of the new facility. The Point wanted to do something in kind to bless another congregation; so, they committed themselves to provide a church building and Sunday School/Fellowship structure for a congregation in Srah Reang, Cambodia. The congregation had no sufficient facility at all and is growing rapidly.

In addition to this needed construction the church sought to:

1)  Provide school uniforms (over 500!) for children who cannot afford them but must have them to register for attendance at classes;

2) Distribute medications too expensive to purchase in Cambodia;

3) Provide food and clothing relief;

4) Visit a prison speaking the message of hope in Jesus and giving gifts of supplemental food provisions to the prisoners. Along with these objectives the team was able to shore up and add to their local church sponsorship of Cambodian children ministry. This is an ongoing ministry to children who need educational and nutritional assistance.

Pastor Samith Mey was the team leader and organizer. He stayed an extra week in Cambodia providing training for pastors in the Banteay Meanchey area. The team was comprised of six Point persons from the Cambodian congregation, six from the English congregation, Pastor Wayne Evans of San Jose Valley Church, and David, the head of the chaplain/religious life ministry at Elmwood prison in San Jose.

Besides the value of what was done by the team and church the encouragement to missionaries, Rolfe and Debbie Klienfeld and the support of these six Nazarene churches in Northern Cambodia are key to the re-establishment of the Church of the Nazarene as a recognized, governmentally approved mission in Cambodia. The Point and Norcal have the opportunity to play a vital role in re-entry into this field with the support of these growing congregations. Until registration can be affected these churches are supported by The Point. The denomination has no missionaries present nor can it make resource investments. The only way of support is some emotional encouragement of the Cambodian pastors and prayer. Please join us in praying that though this network of churches we can re-establish the work of the Church of the Nazarene in this land.

(Pictured are Missionary Rolf and Pastor Samith at Bovel Church)

This is the group at Srah Reang Dedication - note the décor of the church.

The Point Church of the Nazarene…it was a wonderful trip that blessed each person that attended!

Hispanic Ministries - 2008

On January 12^th this year, Rev. Carolina Guido and Rev. Elsa Morales organized a Spanish Women’s Conference at The Point. It was great, they expected to have 200 women for the conference and 500 people for the concert, but they have 230 and 545! Praise the Lord! Here are some pictures of the event.

Here is a picture of the Spanish Cambrian Park (San Jose) congregation. This picture was taken at their first service. We “welcome” our new Spanish congregation!

Cupertino New Life Church – Celebrated the Dedication of Building D on January 20^th with Rev. Tim Isbell, pastor of the English speaking congregation, Rev. David Hoi, pastor of the Mandarin congregation, and Rev. John Yiu, pastor of the Cantonese congregation, Dr. John Calhoun, District Superintendent and his wife Jan, Daryl Hawkins, Architect, David Flory of Flory Construction Co., and Marcia Bundy, Chairperson of the Properties Board. It was a wonderful way to celebrate the opening of this building. There is a large multi-purpose room, a kitchen, teen room, and offices for Rev. Tim Isbell and Carol Van Buskirk, Adult Min. Dir. This is a beautiful and useful addition to the church.

Daryl Hawkins, the architect, along with the builder, David Flory, donated the materials to build the breezeway covering to use as a picnic area, or an area to visit with friends.

English and Spanish speaking pastors who share facilities: BYOL (Bring your own Lunch) to meet for idea exchanges on March 29, 2008 at the San Jose International Christian Center (Central Church) with host pastor: Dr. P. T. Mammen at 11:00 AM. The address is 3275 Williams Rd., San Jose, CA 95117. Phone: 408-243-0256

Is Alabaster Coming to a Church Near You?

February is the traditional time that we take an Alabaster offering. Have you saved your pennies, nickels and quarters? Show how much you really do care by giving to help purchase land and construct buildings for worship. Encourage your children and teens to participate so they too can know the joy of giving what they have for Jesus! The need for land and building materials is great as people around the world are meeting Jesus and needing a place to worship that protects them from the elements of the great outdoors.

Nazarene World Week of Prayer: March 2 – 8, 2008

The theme this year is: Reaching the World Without Leaving Home!

It is a tradition in the Church of the Nazarene to focus our prayers on a different area of our world each day for one week. A united time of prayer, Nazarenes spending time each day in intercession for fellow Nazarenes around the world. Specific requests will be available on the on-line version of the Prayer Mobilization Line in about 2 weeks.

Sunday: Africa; Monday: Asia-Pacific; Tuesday: Caribbean; Wednesday: Eurasia; Thursday: Mexico/Central America; Friday: South America; Saturday: Canada/United States.

Rev. Tim King, SSM Chairman

831-444-6064, E-mail: pastor@salinasnewlife.org

Dear BASS Friend,

Check out the excellent line-up of workshops for the March 6, 7 and 8, 2008 BASS Church Workers Convention.

E-mail: bassnews@bassconvention.org

We are quickly getting ready for this great weekend! We have worked very hard the past year to make sure that the convention is going to be just what you need in your area of ministry. It has been our prayer all throughout the planning season that you'll be encouraged and enriched in your ministry. We hope you'll be able to pick up lots of great ideas and resources, and that you'll be able to network with people who share your ministry passion and vision. And who knows, you might even make new friends at BASS this year!

Our leadership team chose the theme "Wake Up Your Ministry" in order to assist you in making sure we never let the comfort of the status quo dictate how we do ministry. As we abide in Christ for every part of our ministry, we want to Him to keep us alert as we plan, pray and minister. We will be looking to Jesus in March to bring revival to the Bay Area and to our churches.

On Thursday night we'll start things off with some awesome worship, lead by musician and writer Don Moen. Be sure to come early to get a seat and to ensure that you don't miss any of this wonderful time of worship.

The speaker for Thursday night is none other than Anne Graham Lotz, speaker and founder of AnGeL ministries. The daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Billy Graham, Anne launched Just Give Me Jesus in the year 2000. Anne is an award-winning and best-selling author. Her nine books include her signature book Just Give Me Jesus and her most recent release I Saw The LORD.

On Friday night, March 7th, our General Session Speaker is Alan Nelson. Alan is a 20-year pastor and church planting veteran, the author of a dozen books, and now executive editor of the popular REV! Magazine - the only pastoral magazine designed primarily to help pastors equip ministry leaders.

On Saturday morning, we are privileged to hear from Pastor Rene Schlaepfer. Rene is the teacher pastor at a leading Bay Area church, Twin Lakes Church in Aptos. We are thankful that he has freed up his busy teaching schedule to address BASS this year.

Check out the list of workshops, check out the lineup of exhibitors and put together your own itinerary for your visit in March. Of course, don't forget to register!

Consider also in joining the discussion by using the BASS Forum to give your 2 cents, or comment on the blog posts. Also, feel free to use our feedback form to let us know what you love about BASS, what you'd like to change as well as what and who you'd like to see more of at the next convention.

Sincerely,
Christiaan VandenHeuvel
BASS General Chairman

Hello readers of the Bridge.

I hope that all of you are doing well. I was privileged to represent the NorCal District at our Regional Meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii last January. For those of you who might not know, we are a part of the Southwest/Point Loma Region USA/Canada. Our region is composed of churches from El Paso, Texas; all of New Mexico, all of Arizona, Southern Nevada, all of California and the islands of Hawaii. Most of our meetings are held in San Diego before Elev8, but every winter it is moved around the different districts. Last January 2007, we were privileged to host the meeting.

There were many events and issues that we talked about during these meetings. One of the most important discussions we had concerns Global NYI. The 2009 Global Convention will be held in more than 8 world areas. The Convention for USA/Canada will be in Orlando, Florida. The business aspect of the Convention will be telecast live in real time to the other Convention sites. The Worship portion will be done in local time. The kinks are still being worked out but this has been approved, they are working on it and it will take place God willing.

The reason we are doing this is so that as many representatives will be able to attend the Global NYI Convention. During the 2005 Convention there should have been about 700 delegates from our African churches, however, due to finances, visas and other situations due to travel, less than half of the delegates were able to attend. This action will really make NYI Global.

This is where it will concern us, NorCal District NYI. As you may know, we are a very diverse district; we probably have represented most if not every people group in the world. Our Southwest Region is allowed two districts that can attend the Convention in another world area. Our sister Region is Eurasia. There are two sites that will be hosting the Eurasia Convention, one near the border of Germany and Switzerland and the other in Mumbai, India. We, your NYI Council are studying the possibility of being able to attend the 2009 NYI Convention in one of these world areas.

Please pray for us as we study this, and make decisions about the 2009 Convention.

Thanks,

Pastor Donabel, President NYI

Just a reminder for your calendars and for your prayers:

· April 11-12 Multi-Cultural & Sports Day

· May 2-3 NYI District Convention

· May 23-26 Elev8 @ PLNU

· June 24-28 Mid High Camp

· July Fuel 2008

· August Sr. High Camp

· September 5 District All-Nighter

We are working on preparing a retreat for our college students. Please be on the look out for this retreat.

Attached is the list of the Center for Pastoral Leadership events we have scheduled through February 2009.  For those events that we do not have specific dates for yet, I have listed the month in which they will occur.  Please let me know if you have any questios.

Signe Whaling, Program Coordinator

swhaling@pointloma.edu

(619) 849-2410 - Phone

(619) 849-3324 - Fax

DATES TO REMEMBER (PLNU)

Gallup Summit March 3-5, 2008

Pastors Directed Retreat March 4, 2008

Pastors Forum: Finishing Well March 31—April 2, 2008

Seminar by the Sea:

The Life of the Minister June 16-19, 2008

Korean Pastors Conference July 7-11, 2008

Nazarene Prayer Summit July 14-16, 2008

Women-in-Ministry Conference July 17-18, 2008

Master’s Teacher Week July 21-24, 2008

Seminar by the Sea:

Communicating the Gospel August 11-14, 2008

Ministerial Candidate Retreat October 2008

Seminar by the Sea:

The Old Testament and the Christian Pulpit October 13-16, 2008

Worship Summit 2008 October 16-17, 2008

Plans are coming together for the PLNU Regional Prayer Summit, July 14-16, 2008, on the campus of Point Loma Nazarene University. This will be the last of five regional prayer summits held across the United States in 2008. I want to thank you for your encouragement as we are working on this special gathering, and you can certainly be proud of PLNU and their wonderful contribution to this effort.

Earlier this month a letter was mailed to clergy on the PLNU Region inviting them and their spouses to prayerfully consider participating in the prayer summit.  The letter outlined:

Prayer Summit website with detailed information and online registration.

Prayer Summit schedule, beginning with lunch on Monday and ending with lunch on Wednesday.

Prayer Summit Cost, $100 per person (includes lodging, linens, meals, breaks, and supplies).

Special invitation for clergy and their spouses.

Following the prayer summit, PLNU is offering a "BONUS DAY." This additional 24-hour day of rest and renewal includes Wednesday night lodging, Wednesday evening meal and Thursday breakfast. Ron Fay, Director of Church Relations at Point Loma Nazarene University, has many special activities available for pastors. One may register for the BONUS DAY by contacting Ron at (619) 849-2613 or ronfay@pointloma.edu.

If you would like to place an ad in your district communication, the link to the prayer summit logo is: http://www.nazarenepastor.org/cms/Portals/0/Images/PSLogoHiRes.jpg.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have questions, or if there is any other way we might assist.  Let's join together in praying for a fresh movement of God as He draws women and men together for this focused time of prayer.  Blessings, friends!

Grace and peace,
Dr. Daniel Copp
Clergy Development Director
Church of the Nazarene
Phone: 816-333-7000 x2256, Toll Free: 1-800-306-7651, Fax: 816-361-5202
Email: dcopp@nazarene.org
Website: www.nazarenepastor.org < http://www.nazarenepastor.org/>

Northern California District Calendar - 2008

March 5 Pastors’ & Ministry Leaders with Dr. Reggie McNeal, Guest speaker

Location of Event: Bear Creek Community Church, Lodi, CA

Register through Sacramento Dist. (916) 652-1193

E-mail: www.sacnaz.org

March 13 Credential/Studies Board at San Jose The Point Church

March 14 Credential/Studies Board at Concord Christ Community Church

District Assembly Schedule will be at Santa Rosa Church of the Nazarene

Wed. April 30^th 7:00PM World and Home Missions service
Thurs. May 1^st 8:30 AM NMI Convention
Thurs. May 1^st 1:30 PM Opening session of Dist. Assembly
Thurs  May 1^st 7:30 PM Ordination Service
Fri. May 2^nd 8:30 AM District Assembly continued
Fri. afternoon, Dialogue with Gen. Supt. Jerry Porter (time permitting)
Fri. May 2^nd 7:30 PM Youth and Missions Service
Sat. May 3^rd 9:00 AM NYI Convention and service project